If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Building a sound proof door

I am building a sound proof room to run a dynamometer. The room is inside a concrete block building with a 10' ceiling and wood trussed roof.

The big issue, there are two residential garage doors on either end of the 20' W x 40' L room. I need to insulate the doors and make them as air tight as possible with gaskets, but I'm still afraid I'll only be able to achieve an STC rating of something like 20, most of my walls will be in the 55-65 STC range, and I need my doors to be at least 40 STC.

Only one of the 16'w x 8'h garage doors concerns me, as the other one is facing towards a direction that noise won't concern me much.

I have thought about installing a commercial roll up door on the outside of the building, but those things are not air tight and even the insulated ones have very little R value (more insulation = more noise reduction and higher STC rating, to some extent).

Thoughts? maybe build some type of multi piece door that swings side to side or up and down on hinges? and that I can gaskets around the edges to reduce noise transmission.

Here in the north, insulating garage doors is not uncommon
to keep the cold out in the winter.

Often what is done is to fit styrofoam insulation panels to the
inside of the door -- cutting/trimming/beveling/etc so that all
the mechanisms still work, that there is clearance, and so on.
To keep the cold air (and snow and ...) from infiltrating around
the perimeter of the door, a heavy vinyl weatherstrip is used.
As the door closes, it rubs up against the strip, forming a wind-tight
seal. That might do it for you.

To keep the cold air (and snow and ...) from infiltrating around
the perimeter of the door, a heavy vinyl weatherstrip is used.
As the door closes, it rubs up against the strip, forming a wind-tight
seal. That might do it for you.

Here in the north, insulating garage doors is not uncommon
to keep the cold out in the winter....

It's just as valuable in the Las Vegas summer, my friend! And where the small cutouts are for the hinges the darn parts are often too hot to touch if the door faces west. The one I move into next week faces east!

Home Depot sells kits to do the whole door's interior spaces. After I install that, I purchase 2" styrofoam insulation and glue on a custom layer over the top.

i once had a garage door that was a bit loose. right beside the door
was an exposed water pipe for the outside spigot. the looseness
of the door was "just right" and it focussed a jet of nice frigid
air directly at the water pipe, freezing it solid... eventually i
moved the inside shut off valve farther back.